Wire fence



(No Model.)

w. 0; GHOLSON.

WIRE FENCE.

No. 353,129. Patented Nov. 23, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. GHOLSON, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

WIRE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 353,129, dated November23, 1886. Application fildd November 16, 1885. Serial No. 183,0l8. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ 20720122 it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM G. GnoLsoN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vire Fences,of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in wire fences.

The principal objections urged against the ordinary barbed-wire fencesare that they are not plainly visible to the stock, the animals areliable to run against them, injuring themselves and breaking or damagingthe fence, and that in order to make the barbs, whether of wire or sheetmetal, effective the wires must be twisted so tight as to lessen in agreat measure the tensile strength of the metal, so that in a short timeit becomes brittle and incapable of resisting a heavy strain or the jarsto which they are subject in use.-

The object of my invention is to overcome.

these difficulties and provide a. cheap, durable fence that is plainlyvisible, not liable to injure stock, capable of turning either large orsmall animals, and resisting any force that is liable to come againstit.

To this end my invention consists in the subject-matter as more fullydescribed herein, and specifically claimed.

The invention will be first fully described in connection with theaccompanying drawings, and then particularly referred to, and pointedout in the claim.

Referring to the drawings, in which like parts are represented bysimilar referenceletters wherever they occur throughout the Variousviews, Figure 1 represents partof a fence embodying my invention. Fig. 2is a perspective View, upon an enlarged scale, of my sheet-metalbinding-clip.

The clip A, which is made of light sheet metal, has its longitudinaledges bent at a right angle to the body or central portion, and inopposite directions. Each of the turned edges is perforated at a at theangle or bend, the body of the plate being tangent to the perforations,which are somewhat larger than the wires B, which pass through them. Aflaring V-shaped notch, c, is cut from the perforations a through theturned or flanged edge of the plate, to facilitate the entrance of thewires into the perforations as they are twisted to bear upon the flatsides of the plates A and confine them between the twisted wires. Two ormore of these wires B are twisted together around the ends, and throughthe ,notches of a series of these plates, confining the plates betweenthem at equal distances apart, forming What I term my wire-fence rail. Iprefer to make these plates about four inches in length, and the centralportion about one inch across, as I find this to be the most desirablesize; but of course the size may be varied, depending somewhat upon theuse for which it is intended.

In Fig. l I have shown a portion of a fourrail or boardfence with theplates A in one rail opposite the space between the plates on theadjacent rails; and I think this is the best arrangement. These railsmay be made of any desired length, and any desired number of them maybe.used to form a fence.

By reason of the peculiar shape of my plates and the notches intheiredges, the wires may be loosely twisted together, and may therefore bevery tightly stretched without in any way fracturing or lessening theirstrength. For additional strength the fence may be provided at regulardistances apart with a fencestay, and thus make a very strong fence at acomparatively small cost, as fewer posts are required than with theordinary barbed-wire fences.

I find it best when using wires of a rather heavy gage to make thetwists about one in every three inches. WVhen a two-wire strand or cableis used, smaller wires will of course need to be twisted more; but asthe wires of my fence may be drawn Very tight there. is no liability ofthe plates A becoming detached, and they are not easily displaced.

I am aware that warningplates are old, as shown and described, forinstance, in the patent of Stubbe, No. 287,337, in which the plateconsists of aflat piece of metal out diagonally at the four corners, andthese corners bent from each other, in order that the strands of wiremay be passed between them, and at the same time to form barbs; also, asset forth in Goros patent, No. 294,612, which also has the plate cut,through which the wires pass to form barbs. In both these cases theplates present a warning only directly in front of the fence. By myconstruction I avoid the use of barbs on the warning-plate, and at thesame time, by the construction heretofore described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, my plate presents a warning that can be plainlyseen from alongside of the fence or from any angle. Again, with myconstruction it is not necessary to twist the strands but slightly toapply the plate, the plate may be easily ap plied to wires already putup, and may be easily slid-along the wires to any position desired. Inthose structures where it is necessary totwist the strands tightly andwith several coils, the tensile strength of the wire is materiallyreduced and the strands are easily broken. I avoid this difficulty by myimprovement.

I claim- In combination with two separate wires or cables, each composedof twisted strands of wire, a light sheet-metal plate having its1ongitudinaledges bent at a right angle to the body or central portionof the plate and in opposite directions, each of the turned edgesperforated, as shown at a, at the angle or bend, the body of the platebeing tangent to the perforations and provided with flaring V-shapednotches 0, cut from the perforations a to facilio tate the entrance ofthe wires into the perforations, substantially as described.

WILLIAM C. GHOLSON.

Witnesses:

J os, H. BLAOKWOOD, R. G. DUBoIs.

